


Blessings in Disguise

by Burningstars98



Series: Blessings in Disguise [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Family Feels, Feral Behavior, Gen, Kidnapping, Mechpreg, Mood Swings, On the Run, Protective Instincts, budding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burningstars98/pseuds/Burningstars98
Summary: It was supposed to be just a myth, nothing more. But Blades proves it is very real, and with it comes new threats from old enemies. Soon it seems that everyone is after the helicopter's unborn child, and though the team promises to keep them both safe, that's only when things get complicated...
Relationships: Cody Burns & Francine Greene, Dani Burns/Taylor
Series: Blessings in Disguise [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022314
Kudos: 24





	1. Helicopter Crash

"And now, ladies and gentlemen... The final round is about to begin... It all comes down to this. Can the Extraterrestrial Bulldozer from Cybertron conquer the Firefighter of Terror, the Griffin Rock Rockstar, the Super-Soaker of-"

"Kade, it's a video game, not a gladiator match."

The red-head grumbled as his partner interrupted his spiel. "Whatever...Me vs. Boulder."

The green rescue bot chuckled as his fingers fiddled with the joysticks and buttons on the cybertronian-sized controller Graham had built for him. "I find this portion of human culture fascinating, though I don't see why humans would risk Carpal Tunnel Syndrome just to beat up each other on a virtual plane."

"Some people think it's worth the risk." Cody admitted, then moved his eyes from the screen to the shape sitting in the corner. "Hey Blades, you wanna come watch?"

Blades didn't even look his direction. "Nah..." He mumbled with a sigh.

Blurr crossed his arms with a groan. "Blades, you can't just sit there and pout."

"Watch me."

Chief Burns shook his head. "He just can't get over Dani..." He mumbled.

"Well she hasn't exactly shown her face much lately." Kade replied. "She's been all twitterpated with Taylor since they got married."

"You're not helping, Kade." Graham informed. "And twitterpated isn't a word."

"Well Bambi says it is! So there!"

"Blades has been kind of depressed..." Chase murmured. "...Perhaps we can find a way to cheer him up?"

"The only real way for Blades to cheer up is for Dani to come back from her honeymoon..." Graham remarked.

Blades stood up from his seat. "She hasn't even called! What if she's hurt? What if she needs my help!?"

"Taylor's a trained EMT, if she's hurt, he can help her." Heatwave informed. 

"And even if they were in trouble, it's cold like death outside! Your rotors would freeze before you even got a mile off the island." Blurr added.  
The helicopter pouted, dropping back down and looking away from the others. "Oh come on Blades, don't be like that!"

"Cody can be his new partner!" Salvage replied. "He's not assigned to anyone."

"Blades doesn't want a new partner." Cody informed. "He wants Dani..."

They looked at the pouting bot, before Chief's phone rang and he answered it. "Griffin Rock PD... Whoa, slow down Huxley. What's on fire?... Alright, we're on our way." He hung up the phone. "There's a power line down at 5th and Grove. Its sparks started a fire on the corner."

"Aww!" Kade complained. "I was about to beat him!"

"You can finish your game when we get back." Heatwave informed. "Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"

Cody watched the team get up and the rest of his family head towards the elevator, then turned to Blades, who was still sitting there. "Uh..."

Chief sighed. "Blades, even if you don't do anything to help, you should get out of the firehouse for a little while."

"Can't. You heard Blurr, it's cold like death outside..."

Heatwave rolled his optics. "Blades."

Blades sighed, getting up to his feet. "Fine..."

"Careful on the streets, guys!"  
Cody watched them all leave, and then went to the Command Center. He reached his usual spot, only to find the chair already occupied. "...Frankie?"

"Hey Cody." Frankie greeted.

"Hi... How long have you been here?"

"A few minutes. You don't answer your phone, which I see is up here while you were down there."

"Sorry, I got busy. What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. We don't see each other as much, now that I'm studying to be a scientist like my dad."

"Right... How are you?"

"Tired. Staying up all night to learn from my dad on Biochemistry isn't the most fun thing to do... What about you? How're you and the bots?"

"Me? I'm fine. We've all been trying to relax a little after Dani's wedding, and Kade's will be in a few months." Cody's face fell a little. "...But Dani's never home anymore. She's hardly been here since she got married, and Blades is missing her really badly."

"Why doesn't he just go see her?"

"He doesn't want to bother her, I guess..."  
Cody took a seat at the console and flipped on the monitors. "Heatwave told him to get out and help with the rescue, just to stretch his rotors out a little."

"What about you being his temporary?"

"We tried that. I rode with him for the first week, but he just wants Dani back..." Cody leaned back in the chair. "...I wish I could find a way to cheer him up. I tried calling Dani several times and she hasn't answered. I wish she'd come by."

Frankie sighed as she leaned back too. "There are days I wish Cece would disappear for a little while...But then again, she'd probably be getting into some serious trouble if she wasn't with us."

"Good point."

'Hey Cody, you got the visual on the fire?'

Cody leaned forward as he skimmed through the images until he found the building. "Got it! Looks like the fire's mostly sticking to the north side of the building, where there are no windows."

'Good work.'

Cody watched as the bots came onto the scene and immediately his family went to work. Kade pulled out the hose and sprayed the building while Chase and Boulder moved to stabilize the downed electrical line as it squiggled across the road. He saw Blades land and transform into robot mode, but stood back, just watching.

"...Wow," Frankie mumbled. "He does seem upset."

Cody threw his hands up. "I'm supposed to be helping them learn about earth and to be their liaison, but I have absolutely no idea how to make him feel better!... Not except somehow trick Dani into coming over and seeing him."

"You're not seriously considering that, are you?"

"No, I'm not that kind of person...But we have to think of something!"

The two teens were quiet for a moment, trying to think of a solution, but as they watched the fire fizzle out and the power line cease its sparking, something else caught their attention. "Blades?"

The robots were all turning to their teammate as his body tried to transform, seemingly against his will. He stumbled back a few steps before collapsing onto the pavement as his legs fell out from under him, and Chase and Boulder ran over to him. "Guys? Guys, what happened?"

'That's what we're going to figure out.' Heatwave informed. 'Boulder and Chase are bringing him home, Chief's staying here and will ride back with me.'

"Ten-Four." Cody replied, his eyes moving over to Frankie.

"Are you sure you'll need to make something up for Dani to visit...?" Frankie mumbled.

"...I don't know anymore."


	2. He's What? You're What?

Cody kept an eye on the emergency camera for a few more minutes before he and Frankie hurried down to the bunker to meet up with the bots as they brought Blades home. Chase and Boulder carefully carried Blades inside between them, lying him down on the floor. "What happened? Can you help him?" Cody asked, "Is it-"

Boulder cut him off with a hand and a slight smile. "Don't worry, Cody... Blades is our medic, but we've gotten our share of medical training too."

"I'm ffffine." Blades mumbled, trying to wave Boulder away.

"No, you're not." Salvage replied as he and Blurr came over, "Nobody who's _fine_ collapses in the middle of a rescue after having a transformational seizure... Besides, you're burning up."

"Don't you mean _cold...?_ I'm cold..."

"No, you _feel_ cold," Graham informed. "We humans call it a fever. Your body's overheating, so the air feels colder than it would if you weren't overheating."

"But why am I overheating...?"

"I don't know. But we're going to figure it out."

Blades whined, tilting his head to the side and looking at the wall. "...So thirsty, too..."  
He tried to roll over and reach for the energon cubes, but Boulder stopped him. "But-"

"We'll get you some energon in a minute," Boulder assured.

Blades sat up, his eyebrows furrowing. "Stop treating me like a protoform...!" He whined, "I'm not that much younger than you!"

"I know, Blades."

"I don't need you guys taking care of me!" Blades squirmed out of their grip and got up onto his feet. "I'm...perfectly-"

"No, you're not." Boulder caught the helicopter-bot as he started to fall again. "Sit down on the couch."

He helped Blades sit down, the helicopter-bot leaning his head back against the wall.

"What do you remember, Blades?" Cody asked. " _Before_ you fell outside at the fire scene."

"I...I was just watching the others...And then I felt kinda dizzy and my thoughts got all fuzzy... Next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground with my legs trying to morph into struts without me..."

"Uh huh." Boulder took the medical scanner Blurr had brought to him and ran it over Blades' body. "...You are low on energon..."

"See...?" Blades looked over at the humans. "Oh...Hey, Frankie..."

Frankie waved with a nervous giggle.

"Here..." Salvage handed Blades an energon cube, helping the copter-bot drink it after Blades spilled a little down his front. "...just take it easy."

"This rusts...!" Blades whined as he paused in his energon consumption. "First Dani leaves me, and now...Now..." his optics slowly shifted around the room, eyebrows furrowing like he was trying to remember something. "...What was I saying?"

"You were thinking about taking a stasis nap."  
They all looked up as Heatwave rolled into the bunker, letting Kade and Chief out of the cab before transforming into bot mode.

Blades' optics narrowed, "No...I don't think so."

"Well, it was worth a shot." Kade replied, "Any ideas on what's up?"

"Still working on it..." Boulder murmured, "...The scans are showing a buildup of partially-solidified energon in his subspacial compartment, it's like his body's rerouting most of his energon there and has been for a while."

"But why?" Heatwave questioned, "...A more _thorough_ evaluation would-"

"NO!"  
The helicopter stood up in a surge of strength, moving away from the others. "No probing...!"

"Nobody said _anything_ about probes, Blades." Blurr informed, "So just...sit down, and we can-"

Blades shook his helm, still backing away from his teammates. "Leave me alone! All of you just...j-just-"

The helicopter's optics flickered as he held his helm with a whine, stumbling a few more feet as Salvage scooped humans out of his way. His plating began to whir louder and louder, before his optics opened once more as bright orange, and he transformed into pterosaur mode. He hissed angrily at them, unfolding his wings and taking off into the air.

"Blades!" Cody cried.

"He's gone completely wild," Chief muttered. "Boulder, do we have any patches left?"

"A few. I'll grab one."

"The rest of us will try to get him down." Heatwave replied, watching for a brief moment as Boulder ran for their storage room before focusing on his sick teammate.

The dinobot was flying around the ceiling frantically like that bird that had gotten themselves caught in the garage a few weeks before; he was no doubt looking for a way out. As long as he didn't figure out how to open the elevator to the upstairs, he was sealed in the bunker.

"Blades, calm down!" Blurr called, "Does anyone know what dinobirds eat!?"

"Gah, we need Dani for this...!" Kade muttered, "Her ignoring us is what caused this mess!"

"We don't know how _true_ that statement is..." Frankie muttered.

Blades' claws scraped at the ceiling; he knew it opened and was trying to get free. He was giving panicked screeches, before landing up on top of the platform Heatwave's karate tower stood on. His wings folded back and he bent down, screeching at them as if complaining about his imprisonment.

"Blades, just stay there, okay...?" Salvage murmured, "We know you're feeling out of sorts, and we want to help you."

"Hey guys...?"  
They all turned as Boulder spoke, accompanied by a scraping sound like metal on the floor. It turned to indeed be metal on the floor, but woven and flattened together into a hollowed-out shape. "...Does this look familiar to anyone?"

"It... It _looks_ like a-"  
Chief paused as Blades took off again, this time gliding over and landing inside of the shape and settling down in it. "...A nest."

"Well, that explains all that metal going missing from the scrap piles." Salvage murmured. "I was _wondering_ where that all went."

"But why'd Blades make it?" Frankie expressed, "And why didn't he tell you?"

Blades backed up and hissed as Boulder came towards him with the patch, but didn't attack him.

"Shh..." Boulder whispered, "...It's okay..."  
He carefully reached his hand out towards his sick teammate, relieved when Blades allowed him to brush the tip of his beak. "You're alright...We're not going to hurt you, Blades..." He moved very slowly, and finally was able to place the patch onto Blades' side, and after a few seconds, it activated. He jumped back as Blades got up, wings flapping and head tossing about for several moments before he relaxed.

"...Did it work?" Kade murmured as Blades stood there, hard huffs of air blowing out of his vents.

The medic blinked repeatedly, and then finally, the orange faded into a greenish tint. He was still partially under the feral programming, but as he lifted a wingtip to his helm with a moan, it seemed he was mostly back to himself. "...Nnn...W-What...?"

"Blades...How're you _feeling_?" Heatwave inquired cautiously.

Blades continued to blink, shaking his helm hard. "D-Dizzy...What _happened?_ I...I don't remember..."

"You don't remember the fire emergency?" Heatwave asked.

"There was a rescue?... Did I go?"

"Yes." Chase affirmed, "...Do you remember your collapsing there?"

"No...No, I don't..." He winced, "Augh...! My helm's pounding...!" He looked down at his wing, concern crossing his faceplate. "Dinobot... Did I hurt anyone?"

"No... Maybe you should sit down there, Blades."

"Right..." Blades settled down into the nest, looking over the sides of it. "Oh...I guess you found my... _project_."

"So you remember making this?" Chief Burns placed a hand on the nest's smoothed metal prongs. Blades' memory lapses were quite concerning.

"Yes...I did..." Blades looked down at his chestplate rather ashamed, "...When nobody was looking."

"Why would you keep it a secret?" Chief asked, "It's nothing bad, right?"

"I dunno...!" the medic whimpered like a child, "I just...I had this nagging feeling in my processor to make it. I remember going and getting the pieces and weaving them together, but I don't remember actually making the decision to go, I just...Did."

"Blades, you need to _tell_ us these kinds of things." Heatwave informed, "We're your teammates, your _family_. We care about you..."

"I know...I know..." Blades suddenly grimaced, wrapping his wings around his torso as he curled up. "Ah...!"

"What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know...!" Blades closed his optics, "...F-Feels like there's an obstruction or something...It's been an off-and-on thin for the past few days."

"Once again, _tell us these things!_ "

Boulder shifted the scanner, running it over Blades' body, his optics widened as he looked at the readout. "I...I don't believe it...!"

"What is it?" Blurr worried, "Please don't tell me it's contagious!"

Boulder was quiet for a moment, "...I thought it was just a myth, but...He's _carrying_."

"Give me that." Heatwave took the scanner, smacking it a little in an attempt to change the readout, but it remained the same. "...No way."

"Look at it! Two sparkbeats, a distinct energy signature, it all makes sense."

"But it's not a real thing!" Blurr exclaimed, "...Is it? I mean, it's just some story they used to scare protoforms!"

"Actually..."  
They all looked to Quickshadow, who like always, just appeared like she'd been there for hours. "A recent alert from Cybertron's High Council says it is in fact true. It came up on a report from the medical council about a week ago."

"And you didn't mention it until _now_!?"

"I was planning on it, but then I had an assignment that took precedence and it slipped my processor until just now. I didn't think there was a high likelihood of it affecting any of us, it's so rare as it is."

"Wait wait wait..." Kade waved his arms, "Hold on just a second here...Are you saying that Blades... is _pregnant_!?"

"In human terms, yes." Salvage replied.

"But...We just...I mean, you...What!?"

"We're just as surprised as you are." Boulder expressed, "As far as I know, this has never happened before. We're not even trained on it because it was thought to be nothing but a legend."

Blades sighed, lying back down in the nest. "...So what do we do...?"

"We put you on Medical Leave, for one thing..." Heatwave replied.

"Not that I wasn't spending all my time here in the Firehouse already..."

"And we keep an eye on you more closely. Keep your energon levels steady, that sort of thing."

Cody looked over as Frankie started to giggle, "What's so funny?"

The young scientist grinned, "Sorry, I'm just envisioning a tiny autobot in a diaper like Robo-Baby."

"We took care of Robo-Baby," Boulder remembered, "So at least we have some experience with this sort of thing."

Blades grimaced again, "...I have a feeling this is going to go downhill very fast..."


	3. Let It Settle In

Dawn seemed to come earlier than the Burns family would have preferred, but now the bots were more than happy to let Blades stay home. The helicopter bot had found transforming out of dino mode impossible, and so he settled himself down in the nest he'd built, snoozing on and off throughout the morning. The yellowish tint in his optics never left, which had the other bots concerned that he might go wild again if he got stressed out enough.

The moment the other Rescue Bots were back in from patrolling the island for trouble, Heatwave was back on the lingering topic. "I can't believe this is happening...!" He groaned, shaking his head as he hid his face in his hands. "Oh Primus, why...!?"

"But if it was going to happen to any of us, it would be Blades." Blurr muttered, "...What're we gonna tell the townsfolk?"

Boulder's tone was firm and urgent. "Absolutely nothing. We can't tell anyone about this. Once Mayor Luskey and Huxley find we have a baby cybertronian on the way, they'll be here trying to publicize it."

"But they'll have to find out eventually, right?" Salvage expressed, "I mean, we can't just keep 'em cooped up in the firehouse all the time once they're born. They'll grow up eventually."

Heatwave sighed, looking to Blades as he shifted position in the nest and giving a soft chirping sound in his sleep. "...We keep it a secret for as long as we can...Hopefully, we can get Dani back here before anyone else finds out."

"Now I want her back!" Blurr mumbled, "...I mean, I missed her before too, but-"

"We understand what you meant." Chase informed, "I am more concerned about Blades' condition. We know close to nothing about what to do to help him, or..." He lowered his tone to a whisper, "... what to do if something goes wrong."

"Despite being in some pain, he seems comfortable to just lie there and rest, which I'm fine with." Chief replied, "We're going to have to take this one day at a time, and try to put as little stress on Blades as possible..."

"Agreed." Heatwave replied, looking at each of his fellow bots in the optic. "...Audio emitters sealed."

"Understood." The other rescue bots informed.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Cody's pencil tapped lightly on the desk as he stared out the window, watching birds hop from tree branch to tree branch. His thoughts were really on Blades, what had caused this new development? And how long would it take before Blades was back to normal? Would he ever be back to normal?

Not even the bots knew what was going on, and that scared him.

"Cody Burns."  
Cody's head snapped back to the teacher as she said his name. "Please pay attention..."

"Right...Sorry." Cody apologized. He saw Frankie give him a sympathetic smile before going back to her own work. She knew why he was distracted.

Class let out a few minutes later, and Cody quickly slipped out of the classroom, Frankie catching up to him a few seconds later. "...How's it going?" She whispered.

"He hasn't gone wild again since last night, but the other bots are still worried about him...And that makes me worried."

"I feel you...My dad was a mess when we were going through that with Cece, but it worked out in the end."

"I guess...But this isn't like a human, Frankie. This is-"

"I know... But the more you freak out, the more Blades will freak out. So try to stay calm...And probably try Dani's phone again."

Cody chuckled, "Yeah...If she finds out she missed this, we'll never hear the end of it." He looked at Frankie as she snickered again, "You're still thinking about a bot in a diaper, aren't you?"

Frankie nodded, "I'm sorry, but it is kinda funny if you think about it."

Cody smirked, "...I guess it is...I mean, what do newborn bots on Cybertron look like? Are they all grown up with the mind of a toddler, or-"

As the friends wandered off down the hall, they didn't notice the girl standing in the shadows of an empty hallway, quickly scribbling down words on a piece of paper with a faulty pen.  
"Bot in a diaper, huh...?" She tucked her hair behind one ear, "Wait until Mother finds out about this..."  
________________________________________________________________________

A low rumbling brought Blades out of his sleep cycle. While not extremely loud, it was still vibrating the ground underneath him, making his chassis tingle. He groaned, lifting his head up from the bottom of the nest that they'd been kind enough to move into the garage instead of the bunker. "What is that noise...!?" He complained, putting his hands on the top of his head.

"Mayor Luskey's new PA system for island-wide emergencies..." Kade muttered, "And to think Heatwave and I agreed to help him put up the speakers all over town...!"

"We didn't know he was going to test them with rock music when we put them up..." Heatwave grumbled.

Blades groaned, laying his head back down.

"How're you feeling, Blades?" Heatwave asked.

"Tired...Achy..." The medic sighed, "...Kinda useless, to be honest."

Kade climbed up the side of the nest and peered down at the bot. "Think of it this way, Blades. In a few weeks or so, you'll have a little bot that will be by your side all of the time because he needs your help."

"What makes you think it's a 'he?'" Quickshadow asked, "It could just as easily be a femme like myself."

"I would hope it's a mech..." Blurr murmured, "Femmes are nothin' but trouble."

"Oh really...?"

Blades smiled a little, resting his head on the side of the nest. "..Thanks for trying to cheer me up guys...But it's going to take more than that."

"Right...That's totally what we were doing."

Blades closed his optics, but they opened again as he felt a soft thump come from inside of him. It wasn't painful, but rather like when Dani would gently bang her fist on the console of his cockpit to remind him to stay focused whenever he got distracted on a mission. Only this time, he knew it wasn't Dani getting his attention; it was another life reminding him that they were there...closer to him than anyone else could be.

It was the first time he'd felt them, rather than just feeling the symptoms of their presence. It was an odd, but at the same time soothing feeling. He bent his head down, closing his optics as he tapped his windshield with his beak right back at his little one. "...Hi..." He whispered, reassuring himself more than the sparkling. "...It'll be okay...Everything's going to be okay..."

The rumbling outside just kept going, and eventually Blades tired of it. He got up onto his feet, stretching his wings and stepping out of the nest.

"Where are you going?" Boulder asked.

"Just outside to get some fresh air. As crazy as it sounds, I'm getting tired of being cooped up in here."

"Alright..."

Blades took a few steps and then paused. "...You guys can come with me if you want to. I know you're concerned I might go nuts again."

"That's not it at all!" Blurr claimed, "It's just...This is a new and confusing thing for all of us, and..."

"I know...I won't be out long, just a few minutes."

He wandered over to the door and then ducked underneath it to head outside. The chilly air brushed against his metal, but it was nothing to the rescue bot. Aside from the rumbling from the speakers, it was all very quiet. He stretched out his wings, letting the sun shine on them and warm them up. "Everything is going to be okay..."


	4. Taking Flight

A few days passed, and the bots and Burnses took extra steps to keep their special secret.

Though it hadn't been easy.

Because of the dino DNA conflicting with the carrying programming, Blades was still partially in wild mode, which meant that anything that startled him sent him into a panicked, screeching state that was fortunately solved by simply giving him some space and letting him calm down on his own. It seemed that any loud noise was enough to frighten him. One time he'd spent a good hour up in the rafters, glaring at them as they walked around below him, and when he came to his senses it took some coaxing to help the acrophobic bot back down again.

Recent snowfall had blanketed the town in white, and the bots were all out helping dig out the civilians from their homes and clearing the roads, even Blades. He had insisted on being helpful to keep himself busy, and since he wasn't physically showing as a human would, they permitted it. He used his feet to scrape snow away from doors and windows, always having one of the other bots there to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't overexert himself.

"You good, Blades?" Kade asked as he and Heatwave dug snow away from Mr. Harrison's door.

"Fine." Blades informed, kicking snow backward behind him. A whump and a yelp made him turn, his optics widening as he saw he'd just thrown a bunch of snow on top of someone. "Whoops...Sorry, Huxley."

Huxley dug himself back out of the snow and dusted himself off. "I was cold enough, thank you!" He complained, "But you are exactly the townsfolk I was looking for."

"Everyone in town has our number, Huxley." Heatwave reminded, "It's not that hard to find us."

"I was just coming to congratulate you Burnses."

"For...What?" Kade asked, "Clearing the snow?"

The news anchor rolled his eyes, "Oh don't even play with me, Kade Burns...The whole town's buzzing about it. You know...The new arrival?"

They all paused, looking at each other for a moment, before Blades' brow raised, maintaining his facade of confusion. "The _what_?"

"Dani and Taylor...?"

"Yes, Taylor joined the family. Now if you'll excuse us-"

Huxley groaned in irritation that the bots seemed to be utterly clueless, and Kade decided that it was time to face the accusation. "Huxley, there is no arrival. Dani and Taylor haven't been married a month and you're already spreading rumors around to fill up your airtime?"

"I'm simply repeating what's buzzing around town! I didn't come with this story on my own!"

"And you heard it from _whom_ , then?" Heatwave inquired.

"From Mr. Sharma at the pizzeria. He's been telling everyone who comes in."

"And _he_ heard it from...?"

"No idea. But-"

"Huxley, you of all people should know how dangerous rumors can be. Or have you forgotten that time you thought aliens were invading and got the entire town going nuts, and then it turned out to be a movie Cody was watching?"

"But it turned out to be true! You Cybertronians are proof that I was right!... In _some_ capacity..."

"Uh-huh..." Kade picked up his shovel, "Well don't be announcing it on the news, or else we'll have diapers and casseroles showing up at our doorstep that we don't need."

Heatwave smirked, "Wouldn't _that_ be a surprise for Dani when she gets home..."

Blades followed the fire-fighting duo as they moved on, leaving the reporter behind. "...How'd anyone find out...?" He whispered.

"No idea..." Heatwave whispered back, "...Just keep cool, okay?"

"How can I _not_ be cool in this weather? It's _freezing_ out here...!"

Heatwave smirked, patting Blades' head. "Nice to see you feeling better."

"I still miss her a lot but...Now I have something else to keep me occupied."

"Good thinking. How're they doing, by the way?"

"Still at the moment...Less so last night, unfortunately."

The leader of the bots nodded and then tapped his commlink to check on the others, "How's it looking everywhere else?"

 **Most of the downtown and the suburban areas are clear.** Chief Burns informed, **Boulder and Graham are working on putting out salt and Chase and I are on our way to check out the mountain roads.**

"Understood," Kade replied.

"I _hate_ road salt..." Heatwave muttered, "It rusts up my undercarriage."

Blades smirked, "Never have that problem."

"No...You just have to watch out for pelicans."

"That was ONE TIME!"

"Still counts."

Blades pouted, lingering a little bit behind the duo as they walked towards downtown. All around him, kids were building snowmen, throwing snowballs at one another, and enjoying the chilly weather and remnants of the blizzard the night before.   
The rescue bot's systems seemed to rev a little more as he watched their fun, warming his core. He could teach his sparkling how to throw snowballs one day, and how to make snow angels and snowbots! With each passing day, the terror and uncertainty had been washed away by the flood of excitement and anticipation of his child's arrival. Oh, the things they would do when they were finally able to see one another...Optic to optic, spark to spark...

He was so engulfed in his thoughts that once he focused again, he'd found Kade and Heatwave had disappeared, and he'd been standing still for some time, it seemed. "Scrap..." he muttered as he searched for his teammate. A big red firetruck in a world of white shouldn't be too hard to find. "...Heat-"

He was cut off by a loud BANG! and then something crashed on top of him. He let out a squawk and shook himself free of the object, his optics widening as he saw it drop into the snow...A net. His spark began to pound, and he took off running into the park. Panic was settling into his processor, letting his dinobot programming take over even further. His thoughts were jumbling, and only distinct words came through...

_Danger._

_Run._

_Fly._

Blades' feet pounded in the snow as he fled. He could hear something pursuing, and he unfolded his wings, flapping them hard as he heard the exploding sound again. After a few failed attempts, he finally made it off the ground, and he fled into the sky like a bird flustered from the grass by a hunter.

Heatwave hadn't been far when he heard both the bang and Blades' cry, and he came swerving around the corner to see Blades take off into the trees of the park. "Scrap scrap scrap...!" He cursed as he started after his teammate, but then stopped.

"What are you doing!?" Kade asked from within his cab, "Go after him!"

"No. He'll think we're attacking him and only get even _more_ panicked." Heatwave's optics narrowed, "He'll come back once he comes to his senses again...We need to figure out who and what made that sound!"

The second sound drew his attention into the trees, and as he broke through to a clearing he saw two things: A jeep with a net-launcher in the back of it, and Blades now aloft and flying towards Mount Griffin. "Stay there, Blades." He hissed, "Please just stay there until we can get to you...!"

The fire truck then turned his attention to the jeep, which was getting ready to speed off after the frightened rescue bot. "Oh no, you don't!" He slammed a foot down in front of the jeep, blocking it from moving forward. The jeep tried to back up but became trapped in the snow, and the humans in black fled.

They didn't get far, however. Boulder came breaking through the trees, followed by Blurr and Salvage. In every direction, there was an Autobot, and none of them happy.

"Alright, what is this!?" Blurr shouted, "Who are you and who are you working for!?"

"You'll never get us to tell you, alien!" One of them shouted.

"You _will_ tell us...!" Heatwave grabbed the two by their feet and dangled them upside down, taking care not to smash their feet in between his fingers. "...Whatever it takes...!"  
He looked back to the skies, finding to his despair that Blades had flown out of sight. _Primus, let him come home before dark..._


	5. Setbacks

Night fell over the island, and Blades still hadn't returned. Heatwave was starting to get worried. Should he have gone after his teammate after all?

The good news was that they'd gotten information from the crooks that had been hunting Blades. As it turned out, Quickshadow was just the bot for an interrogation. She was in the room with them for only ten minutes before stepping out with the name of their employer. From the men's terrified expressions, Heatwave could only wonder what she'd said to them to get that info... When he'd asked, she just gave a smirk and told him not to fuss over it.

That only piqued Heatwave's interest more...

Fortunately, the one in charge of the operation was on Griffin Rock...And already in jail.

Chief walked into the jail, asking Barney to leave him alone for a few minutes. The culprit was sitting in her cell, reading a fashion magazine with her back turned to the door. "...Madeline Pynch?"

"I take it they squealed, if you're here..."  
Madeline got up, walking over to the barred door of the cell. "...Pity that."

"What was your intention for capturing Blades?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious...?" Madeline grinned. "Do you have any idea how much that little bot he's carrying would be worth...!? Trillions, I'll bet."

Chief's eyebrows furrowed, "How did you find out about Blades' carrying?"

"Oh don't be so surprised, Chief Burns... I may be locked up in here, but I still have my own eyes and ears wandering town..."

"Priscilla, I'd guess."

"She truly does take after me..."

Chief crossed his arms, "Fortunately, Blades escaped your little abduction plot."

"You can't keep them safe in the firehouse forever..."

"Maybe not me, but I can tell you with full confidence that the bots can, and will..."  
The police chief then turned to leave.

"At least tell that oaf of a deputy to get me some eating utensils next time."

Chief smirked. "...Anything we give you could be used as a method of escape... So we'll see, won't we...?"

He left the station, walking outside of the building before tapping his comm link. "Any sign of him?"

 **No...** Graham murmured. **Boulder and I searched every inch of Mount Griffin, and it's getting too cold to look further tonight.**

"Thanks for trying, Graham...We'll go back out tomorrow if he's not back by morning."  
The Chief walked to Chase as the rescue bot sat idly by the curb and climbed in. "Let's head home, Chase..."

"Did your talk with Mrs. Pynch yield any results?"

"Only where all these rumors came from...And her motivation. Money, as usual."

Chase gave a sigh. "...I hope Blades is alright out there."

"Me too, partner...Me too..."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The air was chilly, only made even more so by the wind blowing across the field, unblocked by the absence of trees. Snow coated the tall grass, weighing it down and bending it to one side. Though the snow clouds had left the skies, there was no sun to warm him, just the bright, full moon.

Despite his panicked state during his flight, Blades remembered how he'd gotten here, and how to get back. This wasn't Griffin Rock, but he had been to this island once before. He knew this island, or at least better than some of the other islands. He kept his wings folded against his side as he wandered the snowy landscape, feet brushing through the snow.

He felt stupid for flying so far, but in his own defense, he hadn't exactly been in his right processor at the time.

He grimaced as one strong gust slammed into his side, optics glaring in the direction it came from before unfolding his wings. "Gotta get out of this wind...!" He hissed. "...And I know just the place...!"

Though his wings ached from flying, he made it up into the air once more. The wind pushed against him, but he eventually got moving, gliding over the fields and trees until he found the coast. His memory served him well, as his optics caught sight of the entrance to a cave that he quickly dove through. His optics met with pitch black until his optics lit up his way, showing him the full size of the cave. The wind was non-existent inside as he landed on the rocky ledges inside, only the soft whistling of it from outside and the sound of dripping water.

At one time, the pool of water in the middle of the cave was inhabited by a pirate ship, a ship that was Blades and the rest of his team's savior as they used it to get back to Griffin Rock. Now, it was empty, save for a few remaining pieces of the ship at the bottom. It was quiet and dark, save for Blades' glowing optics.

The rescue bot sighed, wincing a bit at how much his voice echoed off of the walls. It was so empty...so lonely.

He knew his team was probably searching for him, worrying about him, but he could fly back, not in this cold. He needed to regain his strength and rest his wings before he tried to get home. He knew the path across the sea, but first he needed to rest... To sleep.

He bent down, curling up in an area where the morning sun would shine in, come daybreak. "Tomorrow..." He whispered. "Tomorrow I'll-AH!"  
His yelp echoed off of the walls, and he wrapped his wings around his body as he felt the hardened shell around the sparkling suddenly move. It inched little by little, sending pulses of pain through him with each one. "Primus...! Oh Primus, it hurts...!"

The pulses built up in intensity, until he was crying out. The cave was filled with the sound of his pain, the echoes pounding back in his audio receptors, though he was not fully aware of it. He pled to the Primes for it to end, for the pain to leave him once more. Tears of coolant spilled down his cheeks as he cried, he should have been at the Firehouse. He should be home with his family to comfort him in his agony, not in a cave to suffer alone. Energon dripped out underneath him, glowing in the darkness. His thoughts were blurring again, but in his desperation he hardly noticed.

The pressure on his insides built and he screamed louder until all at once, the pressure was gone. He laid down, shaking. His insides were throbbing, his entire chassis ached, his processor was fuzzy.

_Guard._

The command in his processor was like a shout in his audio processor, making him wince. He forced his optics open once again... Scrud, he hurt so badly...

_Guard._

"I know...I know...!" He rasped. He forced himself up once more, still shaking as he looked at himself. He'd transformed into bot mode...He was no longer trapped as a pterobot. A pulsing light caught his attention, and he slowly turned around.

Where he'd been just a few moments ago, there was a small glowing orb, the color of energon but hardened into a shell...An egg. Blades collected it into his hands, holding it against his chest as he felt it pulsing...A sparkbeat from within it. He could make out a tiny shape inside, just a darker mass amidst the light of the rest of the egg.

"H-Hi...!" He whispered, stroking it. "...I-I don't know if you can hear me right now, but I'm going to take care of you... I'm going to love you and teach you all sorts of things...!"  
He slipped it into his cockpit, letting it rest where his body heat could keep it warm without the risk of crushing it. He laid back down, even more exhausted from the ordeal, and closed his optics. Tomorrow...Tomorrow he would go home...  
__________________________________________________________________________

"It's not your fault, Cody."

Cody looked up from his plate. "...I know that." He admitted. "...But he's still missing because Priscilla found out, and that might have been because of me."

The Chief took a seat at the table. "We'll find him..."

"He's probably on his way back right now." Graham insisted. "His feral moments haven't lasted long before now."

"There's supposed to be another bout of snow coming in tonight," Kade informed. "Let's hope he finds shelter or gets back before that."

"Ah, the joys of living up north..." The Chief paused as his phone buzzed, and as he looked at the screen, his eyes widened. "Oh thank goodness!" He announced.

"What is it?"

"A text from Dani...She and Taylor will be coming back home tomorrow afternoon."

"But..." Graham bit his lip, "...If Blades isn't back by then...What do we tell her?"

That was a question they didn't have an answer for.


	6. Family is Forever

The next day was relatively quiet. No emergencies or accidents, so the bots spent much of their time searching. Heatwave made rounds around the perimeter of the island, making ever-wider circles until the waves became too choppy to safely continue. Cody remained at the command center, listening for either a report from High Tide, who was using his ship to search even further off-shore or for a transmission from Blades himself. There had been nothing by the time the sky darkened in the evening and High Tide returned to shore, and Cody joined the rest of his family for dinner.

"Where is he...?" He mumbled as he took a seat at the table. "I hope he's not hurt, or someone else got him."

"I don't really want to think about it..." Graham muttered. "Boulder and Chase came back in freezing from patrol, and they weren't even out there that long... I know he's smart and would try to find shelter, but still-"

"We're all worried about him." Kate insisted. "Can we please just...eat dinner?"

"It's okay son..." Chief Burns patted his eldest on the shoulder as he placed the food down on the table. "...We know what you meant."

They'd only gotten one bite into their mouths when they heard the elevator come up, and their eyes looked on the snowy pair that exited it.

"Mind if two weary travelers join you...?"

"DANI!" Cody delighted.

"There you two are!" Chief announced.

The only girl in the family giggled as her little brother wrapped his arms tightly around her, and she hugged him back. "H-Hi, Cody...I'm so sorry I didn't call...or return your calls..."

"What matters is that you're here..." Chief replied as he replaced Cody with an arm around his daughter's neck. "We missed you both..." He shook Taylor's hand, and then allowed the pair to enter the house. "Have a seat at the table, you two. We have a lot to talk about."

"No doubt, like where have you been?" Kade asked. "No calls, no messages-"

"I know, I know...I-"

"It was my parents." Taylor cut in, giving a groan. "They showed up, during our honeymoon, wanting to spend time with their new daughter-in-law. You saw how nosy my mom is at the wedding. We were having to be extra careful not to expose your cybertronian secret to them by accident, so we kinda...avoided you as a topic until we got back. Sorry."

"As long as you hadn't just forgotten about us on purpose, Dani..." Graham replied.

"So, how have things been here?"

The Burns men all looked at each other, mouths open like they wanted to speak, but no sounds were coming out. "It's uh...It's been eventful...?" Graham replied with a cringe.

"What happened?"

"It's an ongoing thing, really... Blades was kind of upset that you weren't here and felt like he was being replaced-"

Dani sighed. "I should go talk to him, shouldn't I?"

"...That's the thing," Cody replied. "We uh...Don't really know where he is at the moment."

"What!?" Dani stood up. "What do you mean you don't know where he is!?"

"S-Sit down while we explain, Dani..." Chief encouraged.

Dani hesitated, but Taylor's hand wrapping around her shoulders comforted her just enough to reseat herself. "...What happened?" She repeated.

"About a week and a half ago, Blades was with the rest of us on a mission when he just kinda collapsed," Kade explained. "They brought him back here and after he went wild and they calmed him down, we found out that he was low on energon because something was siphoning the energon to itself."

"Like one of those space vampires?"

"Not quite...You see...It was..." Kade was quiet for a moment. "...What I'm trying to say is that...Blades is-"

"Cut to the chase, Kade." Taylor requested, "Before your sister blows a fuse over here."

"...Blades is pregnant."

Dani's eyes widened, her hands gripping the side of the table. "...Pregnant...!?" She breathed.  
The Burnses all nodded. "Like...With a baby?" Another collective nod. "...How?"

"We're not entirely certain, and not even the bots are completely sure," Chief admitted. "Anyways, so we were doing what we could to help him feel comfortable and get him anything he needed. But then about a week ago, word got out to the town about it, and that included some less than helpful people."

"A few nights ago Madeline Pynch tried to take Blades so she could eventually take the baby and sell it, but Blades freaked out, went wild again, and then took off," Cody admitted. "...We haven't seen him since."

Dani shook her head. "You have no idea where he might be?"

"He's definitely not on the island. The bots have confirmed that." Graham informed. "But he's gone wild a few times between when we found out and when he disappeared, and after he's calmed down he's come back to normal on his own. We have reason to believe that once he thinks it's safe, he'll come back on his own."

"But what if something happens to him in the meantime? We need to find him!"

"I agree. The bots have been putting every second of their time when they're not on a rescue into locating him. We think he's on one of the surrounding islands, hiding until he thinks it's safe."

Taylor placed a hand on Dani's. "We'll take my plane out tomorrow morning and start searching, I promise."

Dani smiled, pulling her husband closer to kiss his cheek. "You're amazing, Babe..."

"Heatwave and I are going to head out to Wayward Island tomorrow," Kade informed. "We'll find him..."

Dani nodded. "...Now, weren't we going to eat?"

Chief grinned. "Right...Let's dig in before it gets cold..."  
__________________________________________________________________________________

Blades groaned as he looked out the entrance to the cave. His intentions to return home that day had been thwarted by icy cold winds and high waves that crashed into the cave entrance and prevented him from even leaving the cave, much less the island.   
The good news was that morning had allowed him to see better in the cave, and he'd found a suitable ledge higher up on the wall where the waves wouldn't reach him. He was now huddled upon it, arms crossed as he stared out at the darkening sky. 

Another night alone, another night away from home.

His egg was curled up in his cockpit, continually glowing and occasionally twitching as the sparkling inside shifted position. It had cooled since he'd laid it, though it was still far from cold. He'd strapped it into the seat to prevent it from rattling around as he moved, especially as he climbed up to the ledge. It was still for the time being, allowing Blades to rest with little disturbing him besides his own thoughts.

The others would no doubt be out looking for him by now, the question was how far out would they go, could they go in this weather? Was Dani home yet? Was she looking for him?...

...Did she even care?

The helicopter bot shook his helm hard. Of course she cared, they were partners!  
Still, the doubting festered in his spark, making him squirm in his place. But it took him only a few moments to realize that his discomfort wasn't just his feeling of abandonment... Something was wrong.

He didn't know what, but something was there, threatening him and making him feel antsy and wanting to flee. He couldn't see anything in the cave itself that posed a threat, so it must be outside. Hopefully, the weather would keep whatever it was out until morning.  
He felt the sparkling squirm as well, was it able to pick up on his worry? He opened his cockpit, using a finger to stroke the egg's surface. "Don't worry...I won't let them get you." He assured, "...I promise."


	7. Search Party

The Burns Family was up and moving early the next morning, putting on warm clothes and shoving frozen waffles into the microwave, and then into their mouths as they slid down the firepole to the garage.

"Alright!" Kade informed as his feet hit the floor. "We've got a family member to find!"

"Right." Heatwave agreed, "Blurr, Salvage, Quickshadow. You're all in charge of taking care of any emergencies that may pop up on the island."

"Let's hope nothing does...!" Blurr muttered, "Even if it _has_ been forty-eight hours since the last one..."

"I think that's a new record." Boulder teased. "But joking aside, good luck."

"You too." Quickshadow informed.

"You know, it may go faster if you called Bumblebee in for reinforcements...?" Blurr suggested.

Heatwave crossed his arms. "Bumblebee's team has their own problems to deal with... We're on our own, and we're all that's needed."

"Alright Team..." Chief Burns zipped up his coat. "Let's go find Blades..."

"Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!"

Each member climbed into their partner's cab, and Dani hurried out to the plane that was idling on the road outside.

"We'll find him, Dani..." Taylor assured as his wife strapped herself in.

"I know..." Dani mumbled, "...I just hope he's not hurt. He's been out there all alone for two days, what if he's-"

"Breathe... I'm sure he's fine."

Dani leaned her head back in the seat as her family and the rest of the bots rolled out of the garage and headed for the docks to meet up with High Tide. Taylor started the plane's rolling, and within a few seconds, the empty street-turned-runway was abandoned by the plane as it took off into the sky. "Hold on, Blades...We're coming..."  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blades didn't sleep that night. The feeling of danger was growing ever stronger, and he wanted to be ready to bolt if necessary. The light of morning was a massive relief, but that also meant that he would be seen just as easily as he could see the threat.

He carefully climbed down the slope, his feet making faint splashing as he moved towards the exit of the cave. His best chance was to fly out as fast as he could and hope that they couldn't catch up to him...Whoever they were. There were several people who could be involved, and it bothered him that all of them had managed to hold at least one of the bots captive at one time or another.

He knew he needed to get home. Laying the egg had weakened him, and only fresh energon would get him back up to full-strength. There was none here, only on Griffin Rock. He had to hold out until he got there...

The dawn had granted him one advantage... The fog rising from the ocean. It would burn away soon, but hopefully it would be enough to put some distance between them. He unfolded his wings, made sure the egg was secure one more time, and then took off. The waves splashed on his underside as he hid under the cover of the fog, wings barely beating to avoid making too much noise. 

As soon as he was out of the island's shadow and the sunlight began to shine onto his reflective armor, he began to rapidly ascend, trying to get as much altitude as he could muster. He was tired, but he was also determined.

Then it came. That familiar sound of a gun being fired. He dropped and twisted, seeing the net pass him and then sink back into the mist.

_Higher._

The simple commands of his wild programming still lingered, but he refused to lose his helm again. 

The nets could only be shot so high up, and he could go higher. But perhaps they knew that...He'd still need to be careful. He listened, looked, scanned for any sign of danger, because that feeling was getting stronger...

And then came a sound he'd missed terribly, a garbled voice coming through the comms. He couldn't identify the voice, or any of the words, but it meant that they were looking for him...And they were close.  
He wished he could respond, but it might alert the hunters below to his location, so he remained silent. Still, it lifted his spirits a little.

A blast of chilly air came in from the side, and Blades fought to right himself, wings flapping hard. The danger feeling pulsed through him like an energy blast, and then something else hit him. His sensors went out for a moment, and when they came back online, he was lying on the deck of a ship. His helm was pounding, and he could feel the sparkling squirming inside of the egg. It was fortunate that energon was a denser material than the calcium shells of typical bird eggs, or the collision might have broken it. Other than being disturbed, the sparkling seemed otherwise fine.

Blades scrambled to his feet, even as humans swarmed him. He flapped his wings hard in an effort to take off once more, screeching as panic was beginning to overwhelm him again. He was hurt, and being attacked, who _wouldn't_ be afraid?

_Stay calm...! Stay... Stay-_

He gave a cry as he was jerked back down to the deck, his wings and legs pinned down by multiple men.

"Hold him tight, men! He's escaped me once, he's _not_ escaping again...!"

Blades knew that voice...Though it had been a long while, he recognized it almost instantly, and he gave a hiss as they emerged from the fog.

"Oh come now..." The man bent down to Blades' optic. "...Let's not be a sore loser... After all, it's my turn to win a round, isn't it?"

Lord Chumley, quite possibly the only adversary the Rescue Bots had encountered that _wasn't_ aware of their true nature, aside from maybe his brother, Colonel Quint Quarry. He moved down towards Blades' side, running a finger down the metal and making Blades shiver. He paused and tapped on the rescue bot's windshield, giving a wide grin. "Ah...So you have a little secret..."

Blades struggled, letting out screeches as they wrapped chains around his legs to keep him still. His comm signal was still open, and he could only hope it would lead his team to him. _Help us...Please...!_  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Anything?"

The deck remained clear of ice, despite the chilly temperatures. Cody stood with his hands in his pockets, eyes partially closed as the cold breeze threatened to freeze them instead. High Tide had kept the ship mostly steady on the choppy seas, and any slipping or falling was ended by the bots catching them.

Chief Burns lowered the binoculars. "Not yet..." A few scattered flakes of snow were blowing through the air, making the Burns pull their coats tighter around themselves. "At least it's not a blizzard out here."

"S-Still cold, though..." Kade shivered. "You picking up anything, High Tide?"

"Nothing yet... But there are still plenty of islands to investigate."

Heatwave groaned, lifting his hands to his helm. "BLADES! WHERE ARE YOU!?" His voice carried across the sea but faded without a response. "Dah..."

"Don't worry, Heatwave..." Chief tapped his commlink. "Chief Burns to Blades. Blades, do you copy?"

There wasn't a vocal response, but they heard something other than static. "We're getting something...!"

It was the whistling of the wind, soft and almost inaudible against the wind blowing around them, but there was no mistaking the sudden, panicked screeching that replaced it, cutting out but enough to tell them what they needed to know. 

"He's in trouble!" Boulder announced.

"I'm picking up a signal, but it's faint." High Tide informed. "Hold on, we're gonna make a sharp turn!"

The humans and bots held tightly to the sides of the boat as High Tide's vessel swung to the right, and Heatwave's optics narrowed, looking ahead as the ship's propellers shot into overdrive and they sped up into the mist. "Hold on, Blades... Hold on."


	8. A Rescue Too Late...?

Blades had been forced awake by incredible pain, the kind that made him wish he'd lose consciousness again. Damage warnings blared in his processor, telling him that he'd taken severe damage and should go into regenerative stasis, but he couldn't.

Chained up, he'd resorted to the one thing he'd been able to...Scream and bite. More than one human had gotten a serious pinch to their private parts before Blades had been shocked into stasis. Now, he could only assume they had gotten what they wanted, and the fear of that was what was keeping him awake.

His cries came out in gasps, chains still holding him to the floor as energon dripped out. His cockpit had been shattered open, energon oozing from where the windshield had been broken. He couldn't find the strength to get free, he was bleeding out... And they had his child somewhere out of his sight, out of his reach.

But he could see one human was standing guard over the room he was in, and not a nice-looking one. Blades looked up at him, optics narrowing.

"Don't give me that look. You're not gonna intimidate-"

"Where is it?"

The human's eyes widened a little. "...What did you just say?"

Blades snapped the chains as he transformed into bot mode, ignoring the rule of not revealing themselves to anyone. The human didn't even have time to lift his weapon before Blades had him in his hands, holding him tightly and his faceplate practically touching the human's. "I said... _Where. Is it...!?_ You've got ten seconds...!"

The human glared back. "Or what!?"

Blades' grip tightened slowly, bit by bit. "I've had enough of you humans' slag! Enough of pretending that I can't just squeeze my hands and you'll go squish like a-"

"O-Okay okay! They've got in the furnace room to keep it warm!"

Blades' optics widened, and then he dropped the human to the floor before running out of the room. The man grimaced as he hit the floor, but managed to grab his radio. "Papa Bird's on the loose, and he's got one nasty temper!"  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you still picking up the signal?"

"Barely... It's still ahead of us, but we're not making much headway in catching up."

"They must be trying to evade us..." Chief Burns murmured, "Can you make us go faster?"

High Tide gave a sigh, "...I can, but it'll take a lot outta me. Even if we catch up, I won't be able to keep it for very long."

"Just get us close enough for us to get to the other ship." Heatwave informed, "We'll take it from there... _Please_."

High Tide gave a chuckle. "You should say that more _often_ , Rowboat. You sound a little rusty."

"When we get there Cody, I want you to stay here with High Tide." Chief Burns informed.

Cody looked disappointed, but he gave a nod. He understood why, he had no bot partner of his own to protect him on the other ship. "Yes sir..." He sighed.

Chief placed a hand on his youngest's shoulder, "Don't worry, Son. One of these days you'll have your own partner."

"I know...Hasten the days..."

The ship shuddered as High Tide threw it into full speed, and the bots all held the humans in place. "Closer...Closer..."

Within minutes, they saw the other ship emerge from within the mist, and the humans all loaded into their bots and Cody watched as the space between the ships got smaller and smaller.

"Ergh...I can't keep this up much longer...!" High Tide informed.

"Then it's time... Rescue Bots, jump to the rescue!"

The bots launched from the deck and slammed onto the other ship. Cody watched the ship fade once more as High Tide slowed, and the rest of his family disappeared with it. High Tide lowered and limped onto the deck, giving a moan as he fell onto one knee. "High Tide, are you alright?"

"Don't you worry about me, Blip... Just need to 'take a breather' as you humans say...I'm not as young as I once was."

Cody nodded, joining High Tide in watching the ocean. "...Be careful, guys..."  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Heatwave's feet slammed onto the deck of the mystery ship, and he turned to see Boulder land as well, but Chase didn't quite make it. "Chase!" He grabbed the police bot's hand as he teetered, yanking him away from the edge before he plummeted into the ocean. "You okay?"

"Affirmative. Thank you, Heatwave." Chase informed, looking around the deck. "...There is a suspicious lack of activity."  
The bots jumped as they heard a loud clang, and then a familiar angry screech from somewhere in the hull. "I spoke too soon."

Boulder ran over to the cargo elevator, pulling the doors open. "Sounds like we're missing the party."

"Stay in bot mode." Heatwave murmured as they all jumped into the cargo hold, "We need full dexterity."  
The trio looked around the cargo hold before finding a door that they fit through.

"Wait a second..." Chase murmured as they entered a hall, "...I've seen this ship before..."

Boulder nodded. "Yeah...It does seem familiar..."

The trio all paused, looking to each other. "CHUMLEY!"

The screech came again, though weaker, and they resumed their movement at a quicker pace. "He does _not_ sound happy." Boulder expressed.

"Nor sane, if I might be so bold to state it." Chase added, "He may still be acting feral due to continuing danger."

"Let's just hope he listens to us..."

As they reached a fork in the halls, the screeching had ceased. Heatwave pondered calling out for their teammate, but it might alert the humans on board of their presence. He instead tapped his comm, "Blades, Blades do you copy?" There was no response. "Blades, can you hear me at all?"

**H-Heatwave...**

Blades' response was barely a whisper, and Heatwave growled. "If they've hurt him-"

"We'll head this way, you check that way." Boulder informed.

Heatwave nodded, and then they split up.

"It'll be okay, Heatwave." Kade comforted, "I'm sure he's fine."

"If he's not-"

 **It's not your fault.** Chief Burns interrupted over the comms. **Just find him.**

Heatwave gave a nod as he continued. His pace slowed, however, as he began to see humans scattered in the halls unconscious and deep scratches in the metal around them. "...Oh boy... He's not holding back...!"

"That's bad, right?" Kade gulped.

"Blades!?" Heatwave called more frantically, "Blades, answer me!"

He paused to look through an open door, and gasped. There were energon-covered chains, and weapons scattered across the floor alongside the men who'd been holding them. The trail led up to Blades, who was curled up in the corner in bot mode, clutching a tiny orb in his arms and energon splattered all over his arms and legs from his shattered cockpit. He looked dazed, optics wide and staring forward as Heatwave stepped over the downed men and came to him. "Blades..." He whispered, putting a hand on the helicopter's shoulder. "Can you hear me...?"

Blades' lip quivered, and his optics very slowly moved down to the shape. "...They were _moving_ before...!" He whimpered hoarsely.

Heatwave looked down at the orb that Blades was cradling: An egg. Blades' child...

...The shell was dark and almost looked singed.

A wave of concern hit the firetruck, washing through his chassis and temporarily drowning his gruff persona. He was enraged that these humans had hurt his friend- no, his _brother_ \- but Blades didn't need an angry leader right now. He needed someone soft, like Boulder; but Boulder wasn't here, he'd have to do. "It's going to be okay..." He whispered, putting a hand on Blade's chestplate but minding his shattered cockpit.  
His optics moved back up to Blades' faceplate as the helicopter gave a whimper, and then fell forward into his arms. "Hey! Hey, it's gonna be okay...We're gonna take you home, alright? Just take it easy..."  
Blades barely nodded but didn't speak further. He dragged himself to his feet as Heatwave guided him towards the door, his hands still cradling the still, dark orb of hardened energon. Heatwave found himself repeating the same thing over and over, "You're going to be fine...You're going to be fine..."

**Heatwave.**

The sudden sound of Graham's voice in his comms made both bots jump, and Heatwave held tightly to Blades as he attempted to bolt in his semi-delirious state. "You're okay, you're okay...!" He hissed, pulling the helicopter closer. "Shh..."

 **We've got Lord Chumley cornered and cuffed.** Graham finished.

"Brilliant. Head to the engine room and slow this thing down so High Tide can catch up. Chase, get down here _now_. We've..." He looked at Blades' blank stare again, "...We've got a situation."  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dani waited impatiently for the others to return to the Firehouse, pacing back and forth in the garage awaiting news. She and Taylor had returned to Griffin Rock after having been alerted that the others had Blades with them, but also that he was in _very_ bad shape. 

Everyone had been blaming themselves for everything that had happened: Cody for accidentally alerting Pynch to Blades' condition, Heatwave for not going after Blades when he'd first fled, even Dani herself for not being there for him in the beginning. But deep down they all knew the truth, it was none of their faults... It was the villains threatening their peaceful home, they were at fault.

Several minutes passed, and she saw one bot come out of the mist, but as they came into view, she saw it was really two... Heatwave had Blades in his arms, the helicopter's optics closed as he was carried bridal-style.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dani worried.

Heatwave looked to his teammate, giving a sigh. "...I don't know yet, Dani..."

He passed her and she followed him into the garage. He laid Blades down on the floor, the helicopter not making a sound and allowing Dani to see that his cockpit had been blown open and had dried energon on his arms and legs. "He's gone into some sort of shock, we think it's because of the abuse to the egg."

"Egg?"  
Dani turned around, seeing an orb in Boulder's hands that was dark and appeared lifeless. "Oh no...!"

"We're going to do everything we can to save them... _Both_ of them," Boulder informed.

"Dani...?"  
Dani looked to Blades as he whispered her name, and she saw his optics partially open and looking at her."...You're... You came..." 

"Y-Yes, Blades!" She replied, running over and putting her hands on metal very carefully. "I-It's me...! I'm so sorry I wasn't here if I'd known-"

"You didn't know..." Blades smiled a little bit, "...But you're back...That's what...matters..."

Dani smiled though tears were spilling down her cheeks. "Right...!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm here now... We'll fix this, I promise...!"  
Blades looked at her for a few more seconds, and then closed his optics again. Dani wiped the tears from her eyes, and then stepped back to allow the other bots to tend to their teammate. She accepted the hug Chief Burns offered her, placing one hand on her head and holding it against his chest. "Why did this have to happen...?"

"I don't know, Dani...But we'll get through it..."


	9. The Beginning Of Something New

Blades spent almost a full day in the stasis pod, Dani never leaving the room. The other bots had placed the egg inside the nest with a blanket wrapped around it, and while much of the black had rubbed off as ash, it still remained quiet and dark inside.

When Blades awoke his windshield was mostly repaired, though a few cracks remained. Though the others suggested a little longer, the helicopter refused to be away from his child any longer, and had seated himself in the nest with the egg in his hands. Dani sat on the edge of the nest, keeping him company and telling him about her trip. He would nod or give a faint smile in response to her story, but his attention was more on the egg.

Nobody really blamed him.

It had been days since the egg had been taken from him, and it still hadn't shown any signs of hatching or even any life inside...Some of them were concerned it never would. Blades still sang softly to it, tapping the shell with a finger in hopes of spurring a response from within, but the egg remained dark and still.

The helicopter bot sat with the tiny object in his hands, rocking back and forth with the egg nestled against his chestplate as he tapped. "...Please..." He whispered, "...Give me something..."

"You did everything you could, Blades..." Dani murmured, "...It's not your fault."

Blades closed his optics, "...I didn't keep a hold of it... I promised them I wouldn't let them out of my sight...! It's all my-"

"No Blades."  
They all turned as Chief's stern tone caught their attention, watching him climb into the nest with the rescue bot. "Do not blame yourself for any of this. Those crooks attacked you, chased you, and hurt you and the egg. There is absolutely nothing about this that is your fault..."

"But-"

"Blades, listen to me..." Chief took in a deep breath, "...Before I...Lost my wife...Before Cody, we were going to have another child... But something happened, something out of our control, and that life, that spark, went out before we even got a chance to meet them... I blamed myself too, but I realized that sometimes things happen, and you can't do anything about them but move on..."

Blades was still for a moment, "...You think I should give up on it...?"

"No...I'm saying that you can't blame yourself for something that was out of your control...And you can't let the pain and anger eat you up either."

Blades nodded, and then rested his helm against the shell. "...If you can hear me..." He whispered, "...Give me a tap...Please...? Just one, little tap..."

The egg was still, and Blades' smile began to fade as he began to give up hope... Then it came.

Not a tap, but a crack.

Blades' optics widened and his smile returned as a visible crack appeared in the shell, white against the singed teal. "...I see you...!" He whispered.

"It's alive...!" Dani announced with a cry of relief. Taylor grabbed his wife and held her tightly as she started to tear up. "Thank goodness...!"

Everyone's attention moved to the egg as Blades held it in his hands. Each tap formed more cracks, a spiderweb of white lines across the shell's surface, and finally a piece of the shell broke off, and they saw a tiny clawed foot peek out. Blades' optics never left the egg as he picked little pieces of the shell off and assisted the sparkling, until finally the sparkling broke free completely. The shell tumbled to the bottom of the nest, leaving a tiny little shape lying in Blades' hands and covered in energon that dripped all over Blades' fingers.

"Thank Primus for miracles...!" Boulder praised as Blades hesitantly reached out with a finger to touch his child.

It took after his dino mode, which was unsurprising, considering how Blades had been stuck in that form when he was carrying it. Not much bigger than the humans, it was hardly moving, but it gave feeble squeaks, optics tightly shut.

"It's okay...!" Blades whispered, pulling them up against his chest. "Daddy's right here...I'm right here...And I'm not going anywhere...!"

The tiny bot's squeaks lessened, their little clawed fingers scratching against Blades' plating but not actually causing any damage.

"Is it a mech or a femme?" Blurr asked.

Blades didn't seem to hear, all of his focus was on the tiny life in his hands. Tears were spilling down his cheeks as he stroked his child...His child. "P-Primus, you're so little...So fragile...!" He whispered.

Chief grinned, "Let's give them a little privacy..." He murmured, and they all nodded in agreement.

"Chief..." Heatwave murmured, catching the human in question's attention. "...Was what you said true...?"

"Which part?"

"...Did you really have five children once?"

Chief smiled sadly. "...I still do...I just won't meet one of them until I'm gone."

"How do you know?"

"...It's just one of those things you just know..." Chief looked back to Blades, "...I'm just glad that we were able to save this little life..."

"Me too..."  
________________________________________________________

The other bots maintained a watch over the new father and newborn, checking on them every hour or so. Blades mostly slept, the tiny cybertronian cradled in one hand.

With all that had happened to the pair, they needed the sleep.

It was Heatwave's turn when the sun began peeking over the horizon outside and lighting up the island. It was also the time when one of the rescue alarms began blaring. Heatwave grimaced, looking to Blades and finding that the helicopter was too zonked out to even hear it. The sparkling didn't seem bothered, either. He gave a sigh of relief and looked to the firepole as Kade slid down to the floor. "What's the situation?"

"Oh, you're gonna get a real kick outta this one, Partner."

The firetruck transformed into vehicle mode. "Why does that worry me?"

As the pair pulled out of the garage, a blast of cold air came rolling into the garage. Blades groaned in his sleep, pulling his wings tighter around himself. 

The sparkling, however, stretched and his not-yet-colored optics fluttered open. Big, wide optics looked around, so many new and unfamiliar things to look at. But something else took precedence over exploring...

Blades' optics flew open as he heard the cry, lifting his head and looking around. For a moment, the sparkling blended in with the metal of the nest, rendering him somewhat invisible, but Blades finally caught sight of him after using the cries to narrow his search.   
"Hello..." he whispered, scooping up the upset infant in a hand. "Shh shh..." He stroked his child with a finger, "What's the matter?... Are you hungry?"

The sparkling didn't seem to understand the words he spoke, but something in his processor told him his assumption was correct. The only question was what to do about it? The little bot was barely bigger than an energon cube himself. Blades thought it over as he stepped out of the nest and wandered towards the storage room where they kept their energon cubes. The sparkling's cries lessened a little, but he still whimpered, optics staring up at his parent.  
A solution came to mind as he entered the room, and he grabbed a smaller cube and opened it before dipping his finger into it. He pulled it back out and then held the finger out. "Here...This what you-"  
He jumped a little as the sparkling latched their beak around his finger in a quick motion, licking the energon off and finally ceasing his cries. "...There we are..." He murmured, taking a seat on the floor. The sparkling's grip on his finger with his beak pinched a little, but not enough to cause Blades' discomfort.

"Blades?"  
The helicopter looked up as his name was spoken, seeing Boulder walking into the room. "You weren't in the nest, so I came looking for you."

"Don't worry," Blades teased, as he dipped his finger into the cube again. "I'm still at the Firehouse..."

Boulder sighed as he took a seat beside Blades. "That's comforting... We were really worried about you."

"I know... I didn't mean to be gone like that, I just-"

"Don't worry. We understand that you weren't fully in control at the time..." Boulder looked down at the sparkling, "...I see they're a mech."

Blades grinned, "Yeah, So you can tell Blurr to cool his pistons... Haven't decided on a name yet... I wanna see more of his personality before I finalize anything." His smile faded, and he gave a sigh. "...Do you think I can do this?"

Boulder gently punched his teammate's shoulder. "You'll be great... You're already doing better than Heatwave would have."

Blades' smile reappeared, "Oh I dunno... Maybe being a parent would be good for him- N-Not that I wish what I went through on anyone!"  
He continued his feeding until the sparkling refused his finger, and he lifted the tiny bot up, stroking his cheek with a finger. The little bot closed his optics and seemed to soak in the motion, even giving a purring sound.

"See? You're doing great..."

"Yeah... I guess I am..."


	10. Okay, This is Getting Ridiculous!

It wasn't long before the rest of the Firehouse was awake, and it seemed like everyone went to the garage to check on the situation. Blades was sitting on the edge of the nest, watching his son crawl around the inside. "Use your feet...!" He chuckled, gently nudging the tiny pterosaur's legs up under him, but as soon as he'd get moving again, he'd go back to dragging them behind him as he used his hands to pull himself along.

"What's up?" Cody asked.

"Well, he's mastered the 'Commando Crawl...'" Blades muttered. He nudged his son's legs back under him. "Watch." He stepped back, and once again, the tiny bot just dragged them behind. "...I'm trying to show him, but-"

"He'll get it," Cody assured, stroking the sparkling's head with a hand. "He's only a day old, after all."

"Right!" Graham agreed, "I mean he's already crawling. We humans take months to get to that point."

Blades smirked, "I'm not worried...Well, maybe a little. I mean, who knows what all that abuse to his egg could have done to affect him, you know?"

"He'll be fine..."

"Yeah...Fine."  
Their eyes all turned to the door as it opened, and a shape rolled in, covered wheel to rooftop in snow. "Heatwave?"

There was a faint thumping, and then the snow broke off of Heatwave's door, letting Kade's leg stick out as he kicked it open. "Whew! That was... _Eventful_."

Heatwave sent heaps of snow plummeting to the floor as he transformed into robot mode, shaking the white substance from his chassis and shivering. "I'll say...Next time the Rubios should just stay home...!"

"Oh no!" Dani teased as she entered the room, "It's the abominable snowbot! Whatever shall we do!?"

Heatwave glared at the human, "Okay, snow can be fun. I admit to that." Heatwave brushed snow off of his helmet, "...But this is too much of it!"

"Can't say I disagree with Heatwave." Chief murmured, "It may be pretty, but it comes with its own problems."

Blades chuckled, and then looked down as his son squeaked. "What is it?" He followed the tiny bot's gaze to the pile of melting precipitation on the floor. "...The snow?" He collected the infant into his hand and walked outside of the garage. The entire island was still covered in a thick blanket of white, though thankfully none was presently falling from the clouds.

The little dinobot squeaked, and Blades lowered him down closer to the snowdrifts by the firehouse. "You like the snow?" His son squirmed, reaching for the snow, and Blades gently placed the sparkling down on the ground. The little bot cooed, poking the snow with his tiny fingers and pulling little handfuls of it into his hands. His optics were wide as he played with the frozen substance, and Blades couldn't help but smile. The others came out and smiled as well.

"Aww...!" Dani cooed, "I almost wanna make him a little hat and mittens...!"

"You can't knit!" Kade expressed.

"But I could learn!... Probably..."

Taylor wrapped an arm around her, "I don't really see you enjoying knitting that much...It's not very thrilling."

"Touche..."

Blades watched for a few more minutes, and then scooped his son up into his hands once more. The little bot fussed, reaching for the snow again. "Hey, there will be plenty more playing later. We don't want you to freeze your circuits by getting too cold." His son whimpered a little bit more but stopped as Blades rubbed noses with him. "I have got to think of a name for you...You can't be 'Baby Bot' forever."

"How about 'Tiny?'" Kade suggested, "That fits."

"But only temporarily." Heatwave informed, "He may wind up being not so tiny when he's full-grown."

"We're not doing 'Dinobutt.'" Boulder interjected as Blurr opened his mouth. "I know you better than you think..."

"Either way he looks much more active than when he hatched." Dani observed, "I guess that means he's gonna be okay."

"I'm just glad it's all over..." Blades murmured. "...Now I can finally relax, and just-"

He jumped as a loud noise came, and then extreme cold as a blast froze his right leg to the ground. "What the-"  
He then looked where a pair of humans had a large weapon bolted down to a mobile platform and aimed at him.

"Let's just make this simple for all of us, aliens...! Hand it over..."

Blades' optics narrowed as he grumbled, "...Oh for Slagging Spark's Sake-"

"We're only asking _once_...!"

"Evan and Miles..." Blades hissed, "How many prison escapes is this now? _Four_?" He then lifted a wing to hide his son from view. "You'll have him over my dead spark!"

The rescue bot glared as they fired at him again, ducking down and wrapping himself around his son as the blast slammed into him. A solid wall of ice formed around them, trapping the bot in place.

"Blades!" Heatwave shouted as his teammate froze over, and then they all ducked for cover as the twins fired at them as well. "Blades, are you-"

 **We're okay! We're okay...** Blades assured through the comms, the sparkling's squeaks coming through as well. **J-Just cold...**

Heatwave gave a sigh of relief and then turned back to their adversaries, "We need to take that freeze ray off their hands...!"

"I'm with you." Cody agreed, "But the question is how to do that without being frozen ourselves."

"You gotta admit though," Kade joked hesitantly, "News gets around quick in this day and age!"

Heatwave glared at his partner and then overlooked the scene, seeing Evan slipping away towards Blades while they cowered behind snowdrifts. "Oh no, you don't!" He fired water at the twin, knocking him back before ducking back behind his cover. The twins fired at the building, and Heatwave fired back. "Hey... _That'll_ work."

"I want in on this," Boulder murmured, quickly forming a snowball and flinging it at the twins. "Take _that_!"

"When did this become a snowball and water gun fight?" Dani asked into her comm. link as Blurr and Salvage looked at each other with grins of mischief.

"Just now..." Chief informed as Chase caught on and got some snow for his own projectile. "Rescue Bots...Fire at will!"

The Rescue Bots fired in intervals, some firing while others made new snowballs and then trading places. With the bots spread out all over the street, the twins were being bombarded with snow from all directions. Every time they'd try to fire at one of the bots, a massive pile of snow would come crashing down at them, taking out their aim.

In the midst of the super-sized snowball fight that had turned the firehouse yard into a battlefield, Servo took this as a good chance to run into the fray and start up _another_ game: Keep-Away. He dodged flying snow and ice blasts, before jumping up and snatching the remote control from Miles. He then took off with a growl at the criminals, running to Boulder's hiding spot.

"Come back with that, Mutt!"

"Good boy, Servo!" Graham praised as he took the control device from the dog's mouth. Servo yipped excitedly, his little tail wagging back and forth.

Chief held up a hand, ceasing the onslaught of snow before walking towards the twins. "It's over, you two... You've lost."

"Hardly...!" Evan sneered as he tapped a button on his watch, and Graham gasped as the control panel began to fizzle and he dropped it to the ground.

"It's gonna overload!" He shouted.

Chief Burns gasped as the freeze ray began to whine and shake, making a run for cover. He didn't know if he'd make it, but Chase broke free of cover and transformed, the Chief landing in his seat as the ray exploded. All involved ducked for cover as an energy shot out in all directions, freezing anything it touched, and that included Chase.  
Inside the rescue bot's cab, Chief yelped as Chase tipped to the side and he was thrown back against the door. The ice hardened rapidly holding the police car in a diagonal position, and Chief could hear the ice stretching across his partner's chassis. There was a horrible squeaking as it crept into Chase's plating, prying it apart little by little. Chase grimaced, his expression on screen one of pain. "Chase, are you-"

"D-Don't worry...!" Chase hissed, opening one optic. "...I've felt worse...!"

Now the Burnses were down two bots and one human. The twins started to make their escape, but Quickshadow swerved out in front of them, grabbing them as she transformed into bot mode and held them up. "Nice try, Chaps, but you're not going anywhere."

The fight finally seemed to be over, and the Burnses slowly peeked out of their hiding spots.

Kade was the first to reach Chase. "Dad!?" He shouted, pounding on the ice.

 **I'm fine, Kade.** Chief Burns assured through the comm. **Don't worry.**

"Phew...!"

Dani tossed a can of de-icer spray to Kade, and then pulled out her own and began on Blades. "Come on partner, please be okay...!"  
The mist melted through the ice, and with loud cracks the rescue bot broke free, giving a moan as he fell onto his side in the snow with his son in his arms. Dani ran over to his face, bending down and stroking his helm. "Are you okay...?"

Blades' optics opened a little. "C-Cold... I'll be okay...!"  
The rescue bot's arms creaked as he moved, exposing his sparkling. The little bot squeaked, crawling out of his father's grip and then nuzzling Blades with pitiful squeaks. Blades grimaced as he got back onto his feet with help from Heatwave, and Boulder carefully picked up the sparkling.

"Come on...Let's get back inside..."  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ow ow ow ow...!"

"Sorry, Chase..."

The police bot winced as Boulder used a tool to bend his plating back. The pain was less than it had been, but even after he'd been defrosted, his engine had refused to start and his joints were frozen, resulting in the other bots having to push him back into the Firehouse. "H-How's Blades...?"

"Warmer..." Blades replied. He sat by the space heater, his little one in his arms fast asleep. "Okay, so far I've been attacked by Madeline Pynch, Evan and Miles, and Lord Chumley. I'm not going to name anyone else or else potentially jinx myself, but seriously... Is _every_ person we've _ever_ slighted after me now?"

"Pretty close..." Heatwave muttered, "What's your point?"

"This place _used_ to be _safe_...Ish."

"No, you are not running away!" Blurr insisted, "We'll figure this out."

"I never said I was going to!" Blades looked down as his son shifted position, "I've been away from home too much lately... It's just...These past few weeks have really given me a new perspective on the greed of humans, and what lengths they'll go to get what they want."

"And I'm sorry you had to see some of our race's uglier side." Graham apologized.

"You Burnses are amazing...If any of you go bad, I'll be seriously disappointed."

A sudden sneeze from the youngest rescue bot caught their attention, especially when a bolt of blue left his beak. It went upwards for a moment, and then exploded with a soft poof, the scattered remains falling down as little pieces of ice.

"Whoa!" Kade teased, "Talk about having a cold!"

Though Dani elbowed her brother hard, Blades was smiling, and he picked his son up, holding him up so that they were optic to optic. "...Snowblast...That's what I'm going to call you."

"Welcome to the family, Snowy." Blurr greeted. "Just don't give us all frostbite with that."

Blades' smile widened as Snowblast cooed, reaching for Blades' face with his little fingers. "...I am going to do everything in my spark to keep you safe..."

"So..."  
They turned as Frankie slid down the firepole to the floor before leaning against it with a grin. "...Which one of you is next?"

"Don't even joke." "Certainly not!" "Let's not think about that right now."

The Burns all grinned as the rest of the bots all began to get flustered at the question.

"Whatever happens...We're all here for each other." Chief informed. "Until the end of the line."

"Until all are one..." the bots responded.


End file.
